THE  LEGAL  ASPECTS  OF 
THE  NEGRO  QUESTION 


\ r*  '■‘i  . 


(1-^ 


An  Address  prepared  by 

MOORFIELD  ^OREY 

President  of  the 

National  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Colored  People 


and  read  by 

Arthur  B.  Spingarn 
Vice  President 


AT  THE 


ELEVENTH  ANNUAL  CONFERENCE  OF  THE 
ASSOCIATION 


held  at  Atlanta,  Georgia 
May  30 June  2,  1920 


Price,  10  cents 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/legalaspectsofneOOstor 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  Members  of  the  National  Asso- 
ciation FOR  THE  Advancement  of  Colored  People 
AND  Welcome  Guests: 

It  is  certainly  an  augury  of  better  times  that  this  Asso- 
ciation formed  to  secure  their  equal  rights  for  the  colored 
citizens  of  this  great  republic,  should  meet  here  in  this  great 
Southern  city  by  the  invitation  of  her  Mayor,  her  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  and  the  Governor  of  Georgia.  We  feel  that 
they  have  offered  us  a cordial  welcome,  and  we  accept  it 
gladly,  believing  that  it  is  an  earnest  of  that  genuine  good- 
will which  should  exist  between  all  citizens  of  our  common 
country,  no  matter  of  what  race  or  color. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  I should  speak  on  the  legal 
aspects  of  the  Negro  problem,  but  that  subject  does  not  attract 
me.  There  are  no  legal  questions.  The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  knows  only  American  citizens,  and  recognizes 
no  difference  of  race  or  color.  Every  right  that  any  Amer- 
ican citizen  has  belongs  to  all. 

The  law  is  no  respector  of  persons.  It  gives  every  man 
the  right  to  a fair  trial  by  a jury  of  his  peers.  It  regards  an 
attack  on  any  citizen,  whether  by  individual  or  by  mob  aS  a 
crime,  to  be  prosecuted  and  punished  as  such.  The  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  has  held  Grandfather  laws  and 
segregation  ordinances  to  be  unconstitutional,  and  has  de- 
clared peonage  illegal.  The  law  is  clear,  and  it  is  idle  to 
discuss  what  is  settled.  It  is  not  the  law  but  its  enforcement 
which  is  wanting,  and  I prefer  to  discuss  existing  conditions. 

Speaking  in  Atlanta,  it  is  in  every  way  fitting  that  I should 
take  as  my  text  the  words  of  your  own  great  orator,  Henry 
W.  Grady: 

“The  problem  of  the  South  is  to  carry  on  within  her 
body  politic  two  separate  races,  equal  in  civil  and  political 
rights  and  nearly  equal  in  numbers.  She  must  carry 
those  races  in  peace,  for  discord  means  ruin.  She  must 


3 


carry  them  separately,  for  assimilation  means  debasement. 
She  must  carry  them  in  equal  justice  for  to  this  she  is 
pledged  in  honor  and  in  gratitude.  She  must  carry  them 
even  unto  the  end  for  in  human  probability  she  will  never 
be  quit  of  either.” 

When  the  doctrine  thus  stated  is  recognized  and  applied 
throughout  this  country  the  work  of  this  Association  will  have 
been  done.  Equality  “in  civil  and  political  rights,”  “equal 
justice”  and  that  “peace”  which  assures  them  the  undis- 
turbed enjoyment  of  their  lives,  their  liberty  and  their  prop- 
erty, except  so  far  as  either  is  taken  by  due  process  of  law 
are  all  that  the  colored  people  ask.  But  it  must  be  under- 
stood that  when  Mr.  Grady  says  “we  must  carry  them  sepa- 
rately” this  cannot  he  interpreted  as  meaning  that  segregation 
which  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  declared 
forbidden  hy  the  Constitution,  or  any  separation  inconsistent 
with  “equal  civil  and  political  rights'’  and  “equal  justice”  to 
all.  The  simple  test  is  to  be  found  in  the  Golden  Rule  which 
is  the  foundation  of  the  Christianity  that  we  all  profess.  We 
have  only  to  imagine  the  conditions  reversed  and  consider 
what  treatment  white  men  would  resent  if  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  colored  men  to  realize  what  the  colored  man  resents 
at  the  hands  of  his  white  neighbors.  We  stand  here  to  ask 
for  what  Grady  asked — no  more  and  no  less. 

The  fear  that  if  their  rights  are  granted,  the  colored  men 
will  seek  to  establish  unwelcome  personal  relations  is  without 
any  just  foundation.  Social  relations  are  not  regulated  by 
law  but  by  the  tastes  of  men,  and  if  there  exists  between  the 
races  an  instinctive  antipathy,  as  many  claim,  there  is  no 
danger  of  social  intimacy  or  intermarriage,  which  every  indi- 
vidual may  control  for  himself  or  herself.  If  we  were  to  deny 
equal  civil  and  political  rights  to  every  man  whom  we  would 
not  willingly  receive  as  a son-in-law,  a large  majority  of  man- 
kind would  be  ostracized  and  the  world  would  be  governed  by  a 
very  small  oligarchy.  The  rights  of  men  are  not  to  be  deter- 
mined by  any  such  test. 


4 


The  people  of  the  South  are  wont  to  speak  of  the  “Negro 
question”  and  to  insist  that  it  is  for  them  to  deal  with.  We 
of  the  North  decline  to  be  thus  excluded  from  the  national 
family.  We  recognize  that  the  ancestors  of  us  all,  North 
and  South  alike,  are  responsible  for  the  situation  which  con- 
fronts their  children,  and  since  we  share  this  responsibility 
and  are  exposed  to  the  dangers  of  the  situation,  we  feel  that 
it  is  the  problem  of  the  nation  as  a whole,  and  that  we  must 
help  to  deal  with  it.  Chicago,  Springfield  and  East  St.  Louis 
in  Illinois,  Omaha  in  Nebraska,  Coatesville  in  Pennsylvania 
are  not  Southern  cities.  Washington  belongs  to  us  all,  and 
all  these  cities  have  witnessed  outrages  which  disgraced  the 
whole  country.  Our  point  of  view  may  be  different  from 
yours.  It  has  been  for  years,  but  we  shall  not  advance  by 
emphasizing  our  differences,  we  must  try  to  reconcile  them. 
Working  in  harmony  we  shall  succeed,  but  dissension  insures 
delay  and  invites  disaster. 

Let  me  remind  you  first  that  the  question  before  us  is  not 
a Negro  question  but  a white  man’s  question.  The  Negroes 
did  not  come  to  America  of  their  owm  free  will,  but  were 
captured  and  brought  here  by  white  men.  They  were  held 
by  white  men  for  centuries  as  slaves,  ignorant  and  degraded, 
“with  no  rights  which  the  white  man  was  bound  to  accept.” 
White  men  made  them  what  they  were  when  civil  war  waged 
by  white  men  set  them  free.  White  men  gave  them  the 
rights  of  citizens  under  our  Constitution,  and  save  for  a few 
years  when  under  white  leaders  they  exercised  political  power 
and  gave  you  governments  not  worse  than  white  men  have 
given  their  fellow-citizens  in  our  great  Northern  cities,  white 
men  have  made  and  now  make  the  laws  under  which  they  live, 
and  white  men  enforce  them.  No  colored  man  has  sat  for 
years  in  either  house  of  Congress,  few  if  any  sit  in  the  legisla- 
tures of  our  states,  and  in  the  Southern  states  of  this  country 
only  very  few  even  have  a vote.  They  are  in  no  way  respon- 
sible for  the  evils  of  which  men  eomplain.  If  any  of  them 
are  ignorant  or  brutal,  who  made  and  have  kept  them  so.^ 


5 


No  race  ever  owed  another  as  much  as  the  white  race  in 
this  country  owes  the  Negroes,  and  those  of  you  who  remem- 
ber the  civil  war  cannot  forget  that  colored  men  raised  the 
food  which  supported  the  Southern  armies  and  protected  the 
wives  and  children  of  your  soldiers  who  were  fighting  to  keep 
them  slaves.  ^Yith  this  memory  you  can  appreciate  what 
Grady  meant  when  he  said: 

“She  must  carry  them  in  equal  justice  for  to  this  she 

is  pledged  in  honor  and  in  gratitude.” 

Our  colored  people  do  their  part  as  citizens.  W hen  the 
country  needs  money  they  pay  their  share  of  taxes,  they  buy 
their  full  allotment  of  Liberty  Bonds.  W^hen  men  are  needed 
they  are  called  and  serve  bravely  and  loyally.  In  the  late 
war  417,000  of  them  were  drafted,  and  in  the  words  of  Sec- 
retary Daniels,  “More  than  200,000  Negroes  went  aeross  the 
sea  to  fight,  not  a few  to  seal  their  devotion  with  their  blood, 
and  many  to  win  deeorations  for  their  fine  fighting  qualities 
and  faithful  services.”  Wlien  it  was  suggested  to  the  Sec- 
retary that  German  spies  were  trying  to  enlist  them  against 
this  country,  he  replied  to  the  speaker,  “that  though  here  and 
there  he  might  find  a traitor  among  the  American  Negroes, 
he  might  give  himself  no  trouble  for  I knew  that  the  Negroes 
could  neither  be  cajoled  nor  threatened  nor  bought  to  enter  a 
conspiracy  to  injure  this  country.”  Twelve  millions  of  citi- 
zens like  these  are  an  asset  not  lightly  to  be  thrown  away, 
espeeially  when  we  consider  how  many  disloyal  elements  are 
to  be  found  in  our  varied  population. 

Let  me  recall  to  you  what  has  happened  in  half  a century. 
W’hen  the  end  of  the  war  came  in  1865  it  found  four  millions 
of  chattels  without  education,  without  property,  without 
experience,  turned  naked  into  a hostile  world,  changed  in  a 
moment  into  men  and  citizens,  with  a freedom  which  many 
of  them  did  not  realize  and  with  rights  whieh  they  knew  not 
how  to  exereise.  Compare  them  with  the  twelve  millions  of 
freemen  who  dwell  in  this  country  today,  possessing  millions 


6 


of  fertile  acres,  owning  and  managing  banks,  insurance  com- 
panies and  business  enterprises  of  every  kind;  winning  dis- 
tinction in  every  profession,  founding  and  maintaining  schools, 
colleges,  magazines  and  newspapers,  proving  their  ability  in 
every  walk  of  life.  Their  leaders  would  be  recognized  as 
leaders  of  men  in  any  country,  and  if  the  rank  and  file  lack 
something  of  the  business  ability  and  the  aggressive  qualities 
of  the  whites,  who  shall  say  that  they  have  not  a larger  share 
of  those  virtues  which  are  enumerated  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  the  better  and  gentler  attributes  of  man.  History 
contains  no  record  of  a greater  advance  in  so  short  a time  by 
any  race.  Never  forget  for  a moment  that  in  this  wonderful 
progress  they  have  not  been  aided  by  a sympathetic  com- 
munity helping  them  in  every  way  to  rise,  but  have  won  their 
way  against  distrust,  contempt,  injustice,  violence  and  every 
obstacle  which  prejudice  could  put  in  their  way.  What  they 
have  has  been  won  by  hard  and  persistent  labor.  They  have 
not  met  injustice  and  violence  with  violence,  but  with  patience 
and  fortitude.  They  have  kept  their  courage  and  their 
progress  has  not  been  stayed. 

Let  us  white  men  put  ourselves  in  the  position  which  the 
freedmen  occupied  in  1865;  let  us  imagine  that  we  had  faced 
the  prejudice  and  injustice  which  they  have  encountered,  and 
then  ask  ourselves  whether  we  can  be  sure  that  we  should 
have  risen  any  faster  than  they  have  done?  We  can  certainly 
be  sure  that  we  should  not  have  endured  w%it  they  have 
endured  with  equal  patience.  If  one  seeks  to  measure  the 
progress  of  the  glacier  month  by  month  or  even  year  by  year, 
its  advance  seems  negligible,  but  it  moves  with  resistless  force 
and  no  human  power  can  arrest  or  check  it.  The  progress 
of  the  colored  race  is  like  the  movement  of  the  glaeier,  as  sure, 
as  steady  and  as  irresistible.  In  the  words  of  Whittier: 

“You  may  wrestle  while  you  can. 

With  the  strong  upward  tendency. 

And  God-like  soul  of  man.” 

but  it  is  a contest  in  which  you  face  certain  defeat. 


7 


Justice  like  truth  “is  mighty  and  will  prevail.”  We  are 
fools  and  blind  if  we  fight  against  the  inevitable. 

I have  said  that  the  problem  is  a white  man’s  problem. 
The  root  of  all  our  difficulties  is  planted  in  the  breast  of  the 
white  man,  in  his  belief  that  he  is  superior,  that  he  has  the 
right  to  trample  upon  his  weaker  neighbors,  in  his  prejudice 
against  men  whom  he  remembers  as  slaves,  in  his  determin- 
ation that  his  former  servant  shall  be  “kept  in  his  place,”  to 
use  the  current  phrase.  It  is  this  root  that  must  be  extir- 
pated, this  prejudice  that  must  be  discouraged.  There  is  no 
countenance  for  it  to  be  found  either  in  our  political  or  our 
religious  principles.  Might  does  not  make  right  according  to 
our  creed.  The  place  of  any  man  in  this  country  is  that 
which  he  can  win  for  himself  by  his  ability  and  industry,  and 
no  man  can  say  to  another,  “Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no 
farther.” 

I am  proposing  today  to  consider  the  subject  from  the 
white  man’s  standpoint,  and  ask  you  to  consider  what  his 
interest  requires.  ^Miat  is  our  duty  to  these  millions  of 
Americans.  I come  back  to  the  words  of  Grady.  We  must 
recognize  their  “equal  civil  and  political  rights,”  we  must 
carry  them  “in  peace”  and  “in  equal  justice,”  or  we  are  sow- 
ing dragon’s  teeth  which  will  yield  an  abundant  crop  of  injus- 
tice, dishonor,  crime  and  perhaps  of  greater  calamities.  By 
this  I do  not  mean  calamities  to  the  Negroes,  but  to  us  all. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  forbids  all  “cruel 
and  unusual  punishments.”  It  assures  to  every  man  charged 
with  crime  “a  speedy  and  public  trial  by  an  impartial  jury.” 
Is  there  a man  in  this  whole  country  so  lost  to  shame  as  to 
propose  that  the  Constitution  be  amended  by  striking  out 
those  provisions.^  Yet  during  the  year  1919  eleven  men  were 
burned  to  death  by  mobs  in  this  country  and  four  of  them  in 
this  state.  No  civilized  man  can  justify  such  barbarism,  and 
yet  the  men  who  committed  these  crimes  have  not  been  pros- 
ecuted. The  hideously  revolting  details  of  these  burnings  are 
reported  faithfully  in  the  newspapers;  the  leaders  of  the  mob 


8 


take  no  steps  to  conceal  their  faces;  women  and  children 
crowd  to  witness  the  writhings  of  the  victim,  and  the  perpetra- 
tors walk  among  their  neighbors  with  heads  erect,  unpunished 
and  unashamed.  What  effect,  think  you,  do  such  horrors 
have  on  the  good  name  of  the  United  States  .f*  WUat  should 
we  have  said  had  Frenchmen  been  burned  by  Germany  in 
Louvain.^  How  can  we  criticise  Prussia,  Bulgaria  or  Turkey 
while  these  things  are  done  here,  not  in  war  when  “God  is 
forgotten”  but  in  a time  of  profound  peace,  and  in  a country 
where  sufficient  laws  exist  for  the  punishment  of  crime 

If  the  laws  are  insufficient  others  can  be  passed.  No  mur- 
der by  any  criminal  is  so  dangerous  to  society  as  the  over- 
throw of  all  law  which  occurs  when  a man  is  burned  by  a 
mob  and  no  one  respnsible  for  it  is  even  arrested.  Leave  out 
of  view  the  disgrace  to  the  nation,  what  is  the  effect  on  the 
community  where  such  outrages  occur?  What  is  the  lesson 
that  is  learned  by  the  children  whose  parents  take  them  to 
watch  the  tortures?  These  are  questions  for  you  to  answer, 
for  it  is  the  community  where  lynchings  occur  that  is  most 
affected  by  them,  and  which  must  deal  with  them.  I admit 
that  Georgia  must  deal  with  crimes  that  occur  in  Georgia, 
and  that  Massachusetts  cannot  help  her  until  the  law  is 
changed.  The  conscience  of  every  good  man  and  woman 
who  hears  of  these  wrongs  must  be  shocked,  and  from  every 
quarter  must  come  indignant  protests  and  condemnation. 
Will  you  Christian  men  of  Georgia,  citizens  of  the  great 
republic  whose  government  rests  upon  the  principle  that  all 
men  are  created  equal,  turn  deaf  ears  to  these  protests  and 
let  the  crimes  go  on?  No  one  but  yourselves  can  answer 
this  question. 

No  one  better  than  you  can  point  out  the  consequences  to 
yourselves  and  to  us  all.  I know  that  no  man  of  character 
anywhere  can  approve  such  barbarities,  but  when  such  men 
are  silent  and  a whole  community  tolerates  the  crimes,  they 
share  the  responsibility.  In  the  language  of  the  law  they  are 
“accessories  after  the  fact,”  if  not  in  the 'strict  meaning  of 


9 


the  phrase,  at  least  in  moral  responsibility.  This  is  a truth 
which  we  must  face. 

Let  me  put  you  a very  simple  question.  Is  it  profitable, 
is  it  safe  for  us  so  to  treat  twelve  million  of  our  fellow-citizens 
as  to  make  them  our  enemies.^  They  are  men  like  ourselves, 
with  the  same  instincts  and  feelings;  many  of  them  are  more 
nearly  white  than  colored,  and  inherit  our  own  qualities. 
Even  if  they  were  worms,  the  worm  will  turn.  We  cannot 
deny  to  twelve  millions  of  men  the  rights  of  men,  we  cannot 
deny  them  justice,  we  cannot  leave  them  at  the  mercy  of 
the  mob  to  be  killed  on  suspicion  or  an  any  charge  which  any 
malicious,  reckless  or  hysterical  person  may  make,  without 
that  trial  by  jury  which  the  Constitution  secures  to  every 
man,  and  expect  them  to  submit  forever.  Have  we  not 
enemies  enough  within  our  borders?  A year  ago  we  led  the 
world,  and  all  peoples  sought  our  friendship.  Now  where 
are  our  friends?  England  and  France  feel  themselves  deserted 
by  us  since  we  repudiate  the  treaties  on  which  they  relied  for 
protection.  Germany  holds  us  responsible  for  her  over- 
throw. We  certainly  cannot  rely  on  Russia,  once  our  friend. 
Can  we  afford  to  cultivate  just  discontent  in  our  midst? 
These  twelve  million  men  must  seek  friends  elsewhere  if  the 
governments  under  which  they  live  and  the  men  among 
whom  they  dwell  deny  them  justice  and  safety.  Again  in 
the  words  of  Grady,  “Discord  means  ruin.”  Can  we  afford 
to  run  the  risk? 

Disregard  wholly  this  aspect  of  the  question,  and  consider 
only  the  effect  on  our  daily  life.  Labor  is  needed  everywhere, 
and  we  import  it  from  every  quarter  of  the  world.  WTiile 
the  great  war  was  in  progress  I saw  trains  of  Chinamen  in 
Canada  on  their  way  to  France  where  they  did  work  upon 
which  the  safety  of  our  armies  depended.  Racial  prejudice 
keeps  these  laborers  from  our  shores.  Can  any  community 
have  a more  valuable  asset  than  a body  of  well-trained, 
healthy,  willing  workers?  Here  in  the  South  your  colored 
men  are  fitted  for  the  work  you  have  to  do.  The  climate 


10 


suits  them.  Here  has  been  their  home,  here  should  be  their 
hopes.  You  need  them  in  your  fields,  in  your  factories, 
wherever  hands  are  needed.  They  will  not  stay  here  unless 
they  are  treated  well.  The  temptation  of  higher  wages, 
better  schools  for  their  children,  greater  safety  of  life  and 
property,  assured  political  rights  and  wider  opportunity  is 
always  before  them.  Can  you  afford  to  let  a situation  con- 
tinue where  this  temptation  is  becoming  irresistible.^  Is  it 
wise  for  you  to  drive  your  laborers  into  the  arms  of  your 
competitors?  Can  you  bear  the  money  loss,  to  put  my  c{ues- 
tion  on  the  lowest  plane? 

Nay,  more,  can  you  afford  not  to  educate  all  your  people? 
^Yell-trained  workers,  mechanics  who  know  how  to  do  their 
work,  farmers  who  understand  farming  are  a treasure  in  any 
community.  You  cannot  afford,  again,  as  a matter  of  dollars 
and  cents  to  keep  your  labor  ignorant.  Your  Negro  schools 
are  a disgrace,  as  your  own  educators  will  tell  you,  and  it  is 
not  the  colored  men  alone  who  suffer,  but  the  whole  country. 
Inefficient  work,  spoiled  material,  badly  cultivated  fields  cost 
all  of  us  something.  I will  not  ask  you  to  rely  on  my  words, 
but  you  cannot  disregard  those  of  the  Southern  University 
Race  Commission,  from  whose  report  I cpiote: 

“The  inadequate  provision  for  the  education  of  the 
Negro  is  more  than  an  injustice  to  him;  it  is  an  injury  to 
the  white  man.  The  South  cannot  realize  its  destiny  if 
one-third  of  its  population  is  undeveloped  and  inefficient. 
For  our  common  welfare  we  must  strive  to  cure  disease 
wherever  we  find  it,  strengthen  whatever  is  weak,  and 
develop  all  that  is  undeveloped.  The  initial  steps  for 
increasing  the  efficiency  and  usefulness  of  the  Negro  race 
must  necessarily  be  taken  in  the  schoolroom.” 

Or  as  the  Report  by  the  Bureau  of  Education  in  the  De- 
partment of  the  Interior  puts  it: 

“The  economic  future  of  the  South  depends  upon  the 
adequate  training  of  the  black  as  w'ell  as  the  white  work- 
men of  that  section.  The  fertile  soil,  the  magnificent 


11 


forests,  the  extensive  mineral  resources  and  the  unhar- 
nessed waterfalls  are  awaiting  the  trained  mind  and  the 
skilled  hand  of  both  the  white  man  and  the  black  man.” 

This  is  not  the  argument  of  a fanatical  abolitionist  to  a 
slave  owner.  It  is  mere  common  sense  stated  by  a practical 
business  man  to  other  practical  business  men.  Do  you  not 
see  that  this  is  so.^  Let  me  again  turn  to  Atlanta  for  con- 
firmation and  quote  from  the  great  speech  of  Booker  Wash- 
ington during  your  Exposition: 

“Cast  down  your  bucket  where  j^ou  are.  Cast  it  down 
among  the  eight  millions  of  Negroes  whose  habits  you 
know,  whose  fidelity  and  love  you  have  tested  in  days 
when  to  have  proved  treacherous  meant  the  ruin  of  your 
firesides.  Cast  down  your  bucket  among  these  people 
who  have,  without  strikes  and  labor  wars,  tilled  your 
fields,  cleared  your  forests,  builded  your  railroads  and 
cities,  and  brought  forth  treasures  from  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  and  helped  make  possible  this  magnificent  repre- 
sentation of  the  progress  of  the  South.” 

“While  doing  this,  you  can  be  sure  in  the  future,  as  in 
the  past,  that  you  and  your  families  will  be  surrounded 
by  the  most  patient,  faithful,  law-abiding  and  unresentful 
people  that  the  world  has  seen.” 

Monroe  N.  Work,  the  statistician  of  Tuskegee  has  made 
this  statement: 

“It  is  probable  that  the  South  is  losing  each  year, 
because  of  bad  health  conditions  among  its  Negro  popu- 
lation, more  than  $300,000,000.  It  is  also  probable  that 
by  improving  health  conditions  among  its  Negro  popula- 
tion one-half  of  this  great  loss  could  be  saved.” 

This  suggests  another  danger.  Disease  is  no  respector  of 
persons.  It  is  absolutely  just  and  knows  no  race  or  color. 
The  diseases  which  are  devastating  Europe  may  at  any  mo- 
ment cross  the  ocean  as  did  the  Spanish  Influenza.  When  the 
citizens  of  any  place  tolerate  within  their  borders  dirty. 


12 


squalid  districts,  badly  drained  and  badly  kept,  they  are 
preparing  to  receive  disease  with  open  arms.  It  is  not  many 
years  ago  that  yellow  fever  desolated  New  Orleans  and  Mem- 
phis and  shotgun  quarantines  were  maintained  against  the 
infected  regions.  No  shotgun  quarantine  will  keep  disease 
from  crossing  streets  and  spreading  from  district  to  district 
in  any  town.  Only  recall  how  the  yellow  fever  and  the 
influenza  spread  within  your  memory,  how  typhus  spread  in 
Serbia  a few  years  ago,  how  the  plagues  of  history  devastated 
continents,  and  ask  yourselves  whether  for  your  own  sakes 
you  can  afford  to  tolerate  the  Negro  quarters  which  deface  so 
many  of  our  cities  today.  War  against  slums  is  war  in  self- 
defence.  The  deaths  which  war  causes  strike  the  imagina- 
tion, but  more  men  have  died  of  contagious  disease  than  have 
died  of  wounds  since  1914. 

Finally,  can  we  afford  any  longer  to  deny  the  vote  to  our 
colored  citizens,  whether  by  violence  or  threats  of  violence, 
by  tissue  paper  ballots  or  grandfather  laws,  by  embarrassing 
registration,  or  cheating  in  the  application  of  educational  tests? 
Whatever  device  of  force  or  fraud  is  employed,  the  admitted 
truth  is  that  the  Negro  vote  in  the  South  is  suppressed. 

In  the  long  run  only  voters  have  rights  in  this  country. 
The  politicians,  whether  they  hold  executive  office  or  sit  in 
legislatures  know,  respect  and  fear  the  “labor  vote”,  the 
“temperance  vote,”  the  “soldier  vote,”  the  “suffrage  vote,” 
and  every  other  vote,  but  they  have  no  thought  to  spare  for 
any  class  that  has  no  vote.  The  non-voters  are  defenceless, 
their  needs  are  not  considered,  their  rights  are  not  defended, 
and  no  body  of  tax-payers  can  long  remain  in  that  position. 
“Taxation  without  representation  is  tyranny”  whether  the 
tax-payer  is  black  or  white,  and  if  men  are  counted  as  voters 
when  the  number  of  Congressmen  or  presidential  electors  is 
determined,  and  yet  are  not  allowed  to  cast  their  votes,  those 
who  profit  by  the  system  exercise  an  undue  influence  in  the 
councils  of  the  nation  to  which  their  fellow-citizens  will  not 
long  submit.  The  Solid  South  rests  upon  the  suppressed 


13 


Negro  vote,  and  it  creates  a political  situation  which  cannot 
endure.  Both  the  colored  tax-payer,  whose  vote  is  wholly 
suppressed,  and  the  white  voter  in  the  North  and  West, 
whose  vote  is  partly  neutralized  and  so  partly  suppressed,  are 
bound  to  oppose  it.  Does  it  help  the  communities  which 
refuse  to  recognize  the  political  rights  of  the  Negro?  Does  it 
insure  them  good  government  to  let  their  political  life  hinge 
on  a single  question?  Is  it  wise  to  let  a whole  government 
rest  on  injustice  to  its  citizens  as  a corner-stone?  What  must 
be  the  political  and  moral  tone  of  men  who  see  the  laws  habit- 
ually spurned  or  evaded  by  the  men  who  are  chosen  to  govern 
them?  Is  it  an  example  which  is  likely  to  promote  good 
citizenship  and  love  of  justice  among  the  citizens  who  are  the 
soil  from  which  government  springs?  If  they  are  just,  their 
rulers  will  be  just  and  not  otherwise.  Again  I turn  to  Atlanta 
for  wisdom. 

A year  ago  at  Hampton  in  Virginia  I heard  your  eloquent 
preacher,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jones,  say  to  the  students  of  that 
great  college: 

“You  protest  that  you  have  not  full  political  freedom 
in  the  South  today.  No,  and  neither  have  I.  You 
answer  that  I have  the  ballot.  Yes,  but  w’hat  is  the 
worth  of  a ballot  which  can  be  counted  before  it  is  cast? 
What  is  the  value  of  a vote  which  cannot  be  backed  by 
freedom  of  political  choice?  * * * We  said  that  we  would 
shut  the  Negro  out  of  our  political  life,  and  yet,  ever 
since,  the  shadow  of  your  race  has  rested  upon  every 
political  discussion,  and  you  have  in  a real  sense  domi- 
nated every  political  election.  The  simple  truth  is  that 
when  we  all  became  Democrats  we  did  so  at  the  cost  of 
our  democracy.  * * * For  wherever  ‘Democrat,’  or  ‘Re- 
publican’ stands  for  a sectional,  racial,  or  class  conscious- 
ness, it  is  an  evidence,  not  of  political  freedom,  but  of 
party  despotism.” 

I have  said  my  say,  but  the  ideas  which  I have  expressed 
are  not  new  or  original  with  me.  I have  been  only  the  mouth- 
piece of  Atlanta.  It  is  Atlanta  that  has  spoken  to  you,  and 


14 


surely  the  words  which  I have  quoted  from  her  leaders  are 
wise  and  true.  When  the  people  of  the  South  will  heed  them 
there  will  be  no  “Negro  question.” 

Let  me  add  one  word  to  the  Southern  men  and  women 
whom  my  voice  may  reach.  You  have  for  years  prided  your- 
selves upon  being  a chivalrous  people.  What  is  chivalry? 
Can  it  be  defined  better  than  in  the  words  of  Lord  Russell, 
the  Chief  Justice  of  England,  addressed  to  the  American  Bar 
Association  in  regard  to  civilization: 

“Its  true  signs  are  thought  for  the  poor  and  suffering, 
regard  and  respect  for  woman,  the  frank  recognition  of 
human  brotherhood,  irrespective  of  race  or  colour  or  nation 
or  religion,  * * * abhorrence  of  what  is  mean  and  cruel 
and  vile,  ceaseless  devotion  to  the  claims  of  justice.” 

Chivalry  means  respect  for  the  weak,  it  is  opposed  to  oppres- 
sion of  any  kind,  it  lifts  up  the  poor  and  ignorant,  it  spares 
the  lowly  and  beats  down  the  proud.  If  you  are  true  to  your 
owm  traditions  and  to  the  quality  which  you  clain,  you  can- 
not continue  in  the  wanton  exercise  of  your  strength  to  keep 
your  weaker  and  poorer  neighbors  down.  Religion  forbids 
it.  Law  forbids  it.  A'our  interest  forbids  it,  and  chivalry 
forbids  it.  Be  worthy  of  yourselves,  and  help  us  to  end  the 
Negro  question  and  assure  the  future  of  this  country  by  ex- 
pelling from  ever}"  white  man’s  breast  the  ignoble  prejudice 
of  race,  from  which  white  and  black  alike  are  suffering.  In 
the  words  of  our  great  general,  “Let  us  have  peace.” 


15 


NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION 

FOR  THE 

ADVANCEMENT  OF  COLORED  PEOHLE 

70  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City 
Official  Organs:  The  Crisis  and  The  Branch  Bulletin 


NATIONAL  OFFICERS 
President 

Moorfield  Storey 
Vice-Presidents 
Archibald  H.  Grimk^: 

Rev.  John  Haynes  Holmes 
Arthur  B.  Spingarn 
Oswald  Garrison  Villard 

EXECUTIVE  OFFICERS 

Chairman  of  the  Board 
Mary  White  Ovington 
Walter  F.  White,  Assistant  Secretary 
J.  E.  Spingarn,  Treasurer 
Dr.  W.  E.  B.  Du  Bois,  Director  of  Publi- 
cations and  Research 

James  Weldon  Johnson,  Field  Secretary 
William  Pickens,  Associate  Field  Secretary 


BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS 


Chairman,  Mary  White 

Baltimore 

Bishop  John  Hurst 
Boston 

Joseph  Prince  Loud 
Moorfield  Storey 
Butler  R.  Wilson 
Bufalo 

Mary  B.  Talbert 
Chicago 

Jane  Addams 
Dr.  C.  E.  Bentley 
Cleveland 

Harry  E.  Davis 
Greenwich,  Ct. 

William  English  Walling 
Los  Angeles 

E.  Burton  Ceruti 
Memphis 

R.  R.  Church 
New  Haven 

George  W.  Craivford 
New  York 

Rev.  Hutchens  C.  Bishop 
Dr.  W.  E.  B.  Du  Bois 
Rev.  John  Haynes  Holmes 


Ovington,  New  York 
New  York 

Dr.  V.  Morton  Jones 
Florence  Kelley 
Paul  Kennaday 
John  E.  Milholland 
Harry  H.  Pace 
Arthur  B.  Spingarn 
J.  E.  Spingarn 
Charles  H.  Studin 
Lillian  D.  Wald 
Philadelphia 

Dr.  J.  Max  Barber 
Dr.  William  A.  Sinclair 
St.  Louis 

Hon.  Charles  Nagel 
Springfield 

Rev.  G.  R.  Waller 
T opeka 

Hon.  Arthur  Capper 
Washington 

Prof.  George  William  Cook 
Archibald  H.  Grimk4 
Charles  Edward  Russell 
Neval  H.  Thomas 
Wilberforce 

Col.  Charles  Young 


<^^^271 


I 


